Changes
by MSKBSwedish
Summary: Set three years after the second story to my mini-series, 'Living In Danger'. Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.
1. Chapter 1 - Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter One – Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

* * *

Her head was pounding as her eyes began to flutter open. She could hear the faint arguing in the other room which was only causing the headache to worsen. She tried not to pay much attention to the arguing as she slowly began to sit up but it was hard not to. Her daughters seemed to be going at it all day and if she or their father couldn't get them to stop the arguing, she wondered who could. They sounded like they were teenagers already and she wasn't ready to deal with that yet while she was dealing with a child, a toddler... her eyes opened to look down at her swollen belly... And a third child on the way.

"Girls!" Buffy's voice rang out through the house.

Both girls went quiet immediately. They knew that their mother was not having a very good day and if they didn't stop fighting, they were going to be in big trouble.

"I'm sorry, love." Spike's voice came from the stairs as he hurried down the steps. "I took a quick shower and when I got out I heard them fighting." Spike walked into the other room that they had turned into a bit of a play room for their daughters. "You lot, come here." Spike said to his daughters and pointed both fingers down to the floor at his feet.

Both of the little girls walked up to their father and looked up at him, both trying to look more innocent than the other. Spike knelt down in front of both girls and looked at his oldest first.

"Malin Joyce. You know better. I expect more from you, young lady." He turned his head to the younger of the two daughters. "Emily Annette. If your sister is fighting with you then you tell someone, you don't argue back." Spike cleared his throat and looked between the seven year old and the three year old. "Do I make myself clear?" Both girls nodded at their father.

"Sorry, dad." Linn sighed. Sometimes she just couldn't help arguing with her baby sister. She didn't know why, she just did. Of course she didn't mean to upset her parents either.

"Sorry, daddy." Emmy said with a tiny little voice.

"It's okay. You two just need to keep it down. Mummy isn't feeling well and is trying to take a nap." Spike explained as he took one of each of the girl's hands into his own.

"Why doesn't, mum go into her room to take a nap?" Linn asked her father curiously.

"Because her back hurts and the couch helps your mum to feel better, love." Spike leaned forward and kissed one daughter and then the other on their cheeks. "Why don't you two go up in your room and play for a bit so your mum can rest." Spike suggested to his daughters.

"It's okay." Buffy's voice came from the living room.

Spike turned his head around to see his girlfriend sitting up on the couch. She struggled a little but she was able to sit up on her own still.

"I'm awake, now." There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Spike sighed and turned his gaze back to his daughters.

"You should go apologize to your mum." Spike said before standing up.

Linn and Emmy nodded their heads and walked into the living room where Buffy was sitting.

"Sorry we woke you up, mum." Linn apologized once she stood at her mother's side.

"It's alright, baby." Buffy's voice had softened. She couldn't stay mad. Honestly, Linn was right. She should have tried to nap in her own room. The couch was there and it took the pressure off of her lower back where most of her back pain seemed to be.

"Sorry, mummy." Emmy reached out and hugged her mother's side.

Buffy smiled and wrapped her arms around Emmy before planting a little kiss on her forehead.

"It's alright, Em." Buffy looked up at Linn. "Did you do your homework?" Buffy asked the oldest. Linn nodded her head and smiled. "All of it? Even the math?" Buffy knew her daughter was having trouble with her math recently.

"Yeah. Daddy helped. He signed my paper too." Linn said proudly.

Buffy smiled. "Good girl. Why don't you two run upstairs and get ready for dinner. It should be almost done."

Linn and Emmy nodded their heads before running up the stairs to leave their parents be.

Spike made his way over to Buffy who still sat on the couch. He sat down beside her on the couch and rubbed her back firmly with one hand. Buffy let out a little moan. It felt so good.

"How are you feeling, pet?" Spike asked the pregnant slayer.

"This kid." Buffy sighed as she rubbed her growing belly. She was exactly seven months pregnant today. Just like her other pregnancies, Buffy had neglected to see a doctor. Willow was the closest person Buffy had went to about her pregnancy since she helped deliver Linn and Emmy.

"Do you think maybe it's safe for you to go to a real doctor?" Spike asked since Buffy's first two pregnancies were fairly normal and she really had no complications.

"I don't trust going to a real doctor, Spike. I don't want them to see something out of the ordinary and try to put me on medication or make me do something that's going to cause any harm to the baby. I don't want any red flags thrown at me. I will handle this myself." Buffy sat back and wrapped her arm around Spike and laying her head on his shoulder.

"I just worry." Spike sighed. "This pregnancy feels different from my perspective. You're tired all of the time. You're sick all of the time. You barely want to get out of bed because your back hurts. With Linn and Em you were up and about until they were born really." Spike sighed and rested his hand against her swollen belly, rubbing it gently.

"Spike, women have been having babies for thousands of years before me. If they can do it, god damnitt I'm the slayer. I can do it too." Buffy chuckled softly.

Spike smiled, happy that his girlfriend still had her sense of humor. "I know, love. If anyone has the strength it's you." Spike leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Buffy's lips. "I love you." Spike whispered after pulling away from the kiss.

"I love you too." Buffy whispered back.

The lovers stayed on the couch cuddled up together for a little while longer. Buffy really didn't want to get up to check the crockpot to see if dinner was done but Spike had helped her with dinner the last three nights because of her back hurting so bad and being sick. She didn't want him to feel bogged down by taking over every chore, including patrolling at night. She felt like she was giving him such a big task already by helping her with the kids during the day and patrolling at night plus with a baby on the way, he was going to have to patrol a little longer for her until she was well enough to go out and kick some ass. The least she could do is manage dinner.

* * *

After dinner it was time for baths and then story time and then bed. Linn had school the next day and Dawn was picking up Emmy early in the morning to take her to her friend's daughter's birthday party so Buffy wanted to make sure the girls were in bed at a decent time. Of course, here it was eight thirty and the girls were still not asleep.

"Did you brush your teeth?" Buffy walked into her daughter's bedroom they shared. Both girls looked up from playing and nodded. "Okay then. Butts in bed, ladies." Buffy said seriously.

"Yes, mum." Linn sighed.

"Okay, mummy." Emmy giggled.

Linn was a night owl already. She hated to sleep at night sometimes. Buffy worried for her oldest daughter. She still suffered from night terrors and still she found her way into her parents bed. Emmy on the other hand, was the complete opposite. In fact, Emmy loved sleep. She always had. Even as an infant she would sleep as much and as often as she was allowed. A lot of times Buffy would have to wake her up to eat.

"Daddy will be in to read you girls a story." Buffy informed her daughters.

Once Linn was in bed, Buffy walked over and tucked her in before giving her a hug and kiss. "Goodnight, mummy. I love you" Linn smiled.

"Goodnight, moonshine. I love you too." Buffy smiled back.

Then, the slayer walked over to her youngest daughter's bed and did the same. "Goodnight, mummy. I love you." Emmy grinned.

"Goodnight, sunshine. I love you too." Buffy smiled.

The mother of two stood up straight, well, as straight as she could and walked into her bed room. She couldn't wait to lay back down. Not only did she do dinner but while Spike was giving the girls their bath, she cleaned up. She left the dishes for him which he was finishing up now and then he was going to read their daughters a story and then he was going out to patrol.

Buffy sat down on the side of her bed and glanced over at the most recent picture of her daughters that sat on her nightstand. She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. Both had their father's eyes. Piercing blue. Linn's hair was darker than Emmy's. Linn's hair was more of a dirty blond, Buffy's natural hair color. Emmy's was more blond than Linn's, like her father. Even though Spike had crazy bleached hair, his natural color was still lighter than Buffy's. Their faces were similar in shape, same as Buffy's. Linn looked identical to Buffy actually. Emmy was more of a mixture of her mom and dad. Spike's nose and eyes. Buffy's mouth and face shape. Spike's naturally curly hair. Buffy's ears.

But of course, both of her daughters seemed to have picked up on Spike's accent more than her own so both sounded slightly British with quite a few of their words. Linn was starting to break that habit since she started school. She was starting to sound more like an American now that she was picking up on the accents from the other children in her school.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy rubbed her belly gently and looked down. "I really hope you're a boy. I don't know what I'm going to do with three girls." Buffy joked quietly to her unborn baby.

Since Dawn moved out and in with Willow and Tara a year ago, she decided to turn Dawn's old room into a nursery. The color's she had chosen for the nursery were yellow and white. It was a neutral color and once the baby was born, she could just start buying more stuff to match the baby's gender. It really didn't matter to her as long as her baby was happy and healthy.

Between Buffy and Spike, they had a hard time with names. Baby names seemed to stump them. Of course, Malin's name was just a name that Buffy had always loved since she was a little girl and to choose Linn's middle name was Spike's idea. So she was Malin Joyce.

Emily's name on the other hand was the opposite. Emily was Spike's choice and Buffy chose Annette for Emmy's middle name. To be fair, since they chose her mother's name to be Linn's middle name, Buffy wanted to use Spike's mother's name for Emmy's middle name. Even though his mother's name was Anne, they went with Annette since Buffy's middle name was also Anne. She thought it was a little weird if her and her daughter had the same middle name.

Now for this next baby they had one boy name and one girl name already picked out. If it was a girl, it would be Olivia Dawn, after Willow's middle name and Dawn's first name. If it was a boy, Buffy really wanted to name her son William Louie, after his father. When Buffy told Spike he was close to tears. He was touched that Buffy wanted to name their child after him. Buffy figured it was the right thing to do and just simply something she really wanted to do for him.

Of course parenthood hasn't been easy. Especially not for being a parent of half-breed children. Both Linn and Emmy had issues that came with being half-human, half-vampire.

Linn of course had her issues with the sun. Now that she was older, it seemed like she was able to withstand the sun a little better. As she grew older her skin was beginning to thicken which definitely helped.

Emmy on the other hand didn't have as much of an issue with the sun. She still burned easily but her issue was her senses. They were incredibly sharp. Too much of a loud noise would scare her. If she smelled something stinky, she would throw up almost immediately. They couldn't even keep garlic in the house or buy anything that contained garlic. Not just because of Spike obviously but there were lots of things Buffy had to do different, cooking wise.

Both of Buffy's daughters were different and similar in their own ways and it was something that Buffy loved most about them. They fought like cats and dogs at times but other times she had the ability to witness true sisterhood between her daughters.

Often Buffy would find Emmy and Linn playing dress-up using Linn's clothes. Linn would try to give her baby sister a "makeover" like they show on the television. Emmy idolized her sister and she could see that. It reminded her of when she and Dawn were kids.

"And they are down for the count." Spike said, throwing Buffy's stream of consciousness off.

Buffy looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."

Spike walked over and picked Buffy's hands up. He kissed her knuckles softly. "For what, pet?"

"Everything." Buffy replied as she took a deep breath. "I don't know how I could do this without you."

Spike let go of Buffy's hands and sat down beside her, immediately, almost naturally, beginning to rub her back.

"Which is funny considering only but seven years ago, you hated every inch of my being." Spike chuckled.

Buffy shook her head. "No, no I did not _hate_ every inch of your being."

"Well you sure had a funny way of showing it." Spike said with a brow raised.

Buffy sighed and smiled a little. "I hated what I felt for you. When I was in school and I was head over heals for Angel, the thought of being with anyone other than him, let alone another vampire just wasn't even a thought that came to mind. All vampires are evil, they want to kill and be... just... awful." Buffy let out a smirk before turning her head to look up at Spike. "Seven years ago I believed that the only reason you liked me was because of that chip in your head and the only thing I could deduce was that if anything happened to that chip you'd surely murder me the first chance you got." Buffy paused to look into his eyes. "I was terrified. You were the only vampire that I just... couldn't kill. I mean you're the slayer of slayers for a reason." Buffy watched Spike's face fall slowly at the mention of his past. He had a hard time with it sometimes.

"Well, I guess I just needed a slayer to show me how to be a man again." Spike smirked but still, his smile faded as he looked away from her.

"I'm sorry." Buffy sighed and leaned into Spike, nuzzling her nose against his shoulder.

Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy and pulled him close. "Don't be, love. I was a demon in every sense of the word. Was there a time when I would have killed you? Yes." Spike stopped to plant a kiss on Buffy's crown. "But now, I couldn't ever imagine harming you or our children." Spike pulled away, looking down into Buffy's eyes.

"You have given me so much, sweetheart." Spike said honestly. "When you're a vampire, that demon that takes over your body becomes quieter and quieter the longer you're alive. You start to become bored. You look for things to keep you on the prowl. Killing innocent victims becomes elementary." Spike explained.

"Oh so reassuring." Buffy tried to make light of his seriousness.

"I'm serious, Buffy." Spike said which made her smile fall away. "There's no purpose. There's no want. You become like an addict. You feign for blood and the hunt. It's like you keep searching for that same high but nothing will ever be better than your first." Spike sighed. His hand moved to Buffy's belly where he began to rub in circular motions, his eyes cast down to the bump. "This is so much sweeter than that."

Buffy could see a glimmer of something in Spike's eye. Something that reassured her more than anything had ever assured her in her life. She was in love. There was no doubt that she had absolutely nothing to fear from Spike.

"This is the most amazing gift to ever be given when you have had the sort of lives I've lived. From boring to demented. I never expected in my wildest dreams to feel this way ever." Spike continued to feast his eyes on Buffy's baby belly.

"Feel what, Spike?" Buffy asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Love. Meaning." Spike looked up into Buffy's eyes. "You gave me a reason to keep going when I felt like staking myself would be the best and only option. Hoping that maybe I'd find peace in my death. But now..." Spike couldn't help but smile. "I am needed here. For you. For our children. It's my goal in life now to protect you lot. Especially with you expecting another little one."

"Yeah funny how a prophecy turned into three children." Buffy smiled.

"Still don't know how it works. Must be the baby gravy." Spike laughed, pressing his tongue to the back of his teeth.

"Oh god, don't say baby gravy. That's so gross." Buffy laughed but her face was just contorted in disgust.

"Well you don't seem to mind in the moment." Spike joked before planting a kiss to her temple.

"In the moment you don't say 'baby gravy' either. It's not like we speak full sentences during sex." Buffy smacked Spike on his arm playfully.

"Well there was that one time..." Spike said before planting a small circle of kisses around Buffy's neck.

"Oh yeah. I was drunk. I was babbling... I was..." Buffy paused from the feeling that crept up from between her thighs. "Oh you're horrible." Buffy growled at Spike.

"Oh don't lie and tell me you don't like it." Spike playfully whispered against Buffy's neck as his hand moved to massage her thigh.

"Spike... We... Shouldn't..." Buffy gasped as she felt him bite down gently but not enough to break the skin on her neck.

"Let me..." Spike whispered.

"Uh... Oh... Oh... Oooo... Okay." Buffy was fighting a losing battle here and especially after having two daughters, she realized shortly after that she needed to pick and choose her battles and this was one battle she definitely didn't want to fight.

Moving his arms to wrap them around his lover, Buffy placed her hands on his shoulders to keep her up right while her neck was bent, giving Spike the moment to nip and kiss at the soft skin. It still sent goosebumps flying across her skin. A shudder crept up her spine as she let out a quiet moan.

Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike's neck. "Stay in tonight, please." Buffy whimpered. She suddenly wasn't ready for the vampire to be out of her arms and away from her. She wanted him now and the last thing she wanted was for him to flee in the middle of the night to patrol.

Instead of responding, Spike let go of Buffy and stood up. Before she could protest, Spike scooped her up into his arms and laid her down properly in their bed. He removed his shirt and joined his lover in bed beside her.

Their lips were locked together immediately. Their hands were roaming free on their bodies. Buffy drug her nails down Spike's back in need. Spike's hands began to push up Buffy's shirt, running his hand up her belly to cup her breast beneath her shirt.

"Mummy?" A small voice outside of their bedroom door threw them off.

Buffy gasped and jumped, suddenly feeling like a teenager being caught in the act and pushing Spike away as the feeling of arousal left her instantly.

Spike stood up and pulled his shirt back on quickly while Buffy adjusted her own and sat up slowly.

Opening the door, Emmy's face came into view. She rubbed her tired eyes. "What is it, Emily?" Buffy sighed.

"Something's wrong with Linny." Emmy said worridly.

Spike and Buffy exchanged glances before Buffy planted her hand on her bedside table and stood up, following Emmy and Spike into the girl's room.

Linn was in her bed. Her blankets had been pushed off of her and her body tossed and turned. Noises were coming from her body that Buffy couldn't rationalize.

Immediately the parents surrounded the bed. Spike put his hands on Linn's arms to keep her from tossing around. Buffy pushed her daughter's hair from her face and felt her forehead.

"Oh god. She's burning up." Buffy lifted her eyes to look at Spike. Linn had never been sick. What happened when a half-breed child got sick?

 _...TBC..._


	2. Chapter 2 - In The Dark

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Two – In The Dark

* * *

Giles rushed into the familiar Summer's house. "Buffy?" He called out when he opened the door.

"In here." Spike's voice replied in the living room.

Giles closed the door and hurried into the living room to see Buffy sitting on the couch with Linn in her arms who was still tossing and turning as Buffy tried to keep her still.

"I'm sorry, Giles. I didn't know who else to call. Willow is on her way over to see if maybe she could help but... I don't know what to do. She won't stop." Buffy's voice cracked. She was close to tears in desperation for her daughter.

"I need you to lay her down flat and help me hold her." Giles said, getting down to business.

Buffy slid Linn off of her lap and onto the couch where she began to toss and turn further until Buffy pressed her hands firmly against the child's shoulders to keep her still but her head still thrashed about.

"I thought she was having a seizure at first but she's not convulsing." Buffy explained further to Giles.

"No, it's not a seizure." Giles grabbed a little flashlight from his bag and used it to look at Linn's eyes. He pulled the eyelids open with his thumb to see. "No, they are normal. Have you taken her temperature?" Giles asked, looking up at the parents.

Spike sighed and eyed Buffy. "Yeah. Her temperature was 104.3." Spike responded for the both of them.

"Oh dear lord." Giles responded in concern.

"What do I do, Giles?" Buffy's voice cracked once more. "I can't take her to a regular doctor. She's not normal. They'll take her away from me." Buffy's eyes shimmered with tears. "I can't let them take my baby." A few tears escaped onto the slayer's cheeks.

"We will not let that happen, Buffy." Giles reassured her. "Spike, go run a warm bath. Fill it up about a quarter of the way." Giles had an idea that he think would work to at least bring her temperature down.

Buffy sniffled and pulled her daughter back into her arms, holding her tight to try and keep her still.

"Mummy? Is Linny okay?" Emmy looked scared. She didn't know what was going on and unfortunately, no one else knew either.

"Yes, baby. She will be fine." Buffy lied. She didn't know if her daughter would be okay or not but she was going to do everything in her power to keep her daughter alive.

Giles continued to examine Linn while in her mothers arms and once the bath was ready, Spike came downstairs.

He took Linn into his arms and the three adults, along with Emmy following went upstairs to the bathroom.

"Emmy, why don't you go lay down in mine and daddy's room for a bit." Buffy suggested to her youngest.

Emmy eyed her mother, almost contemplating whether or not to do it but within seconds she nodded her head and walked out of the bathroom.

Spike quickly undressed Linn. "I'm getting in there with her. I don't want her to hit her head." Buffy nodded in agreement but Spike kept his clothes on and simply got into the tub. He laid his daughter against him and let a good portion of her body be submerged into the water.

Grabbing the girl's cup that they used to rinse their hair out, Spike began scooping water into it and splashing it over his daughter's body that wasn't submerged.

Buffy sat down on the closed toilet and watched Spike care for their daughter. Moments like this, Spike's dedication and love for his children really shined.

"Buffy!" The door to the house opened and Willow called out for Buffy.

"Up here, Will!" Buffy answered.

Within minutes, Willow had joined the others in the bathroom. Her eyes fell over Spike and Linn in the tub before looking at Buffy and then Giles.

"What happened?" Willow asked, walking over to the tub to look down at Linn who was no longer tossing and turning.

"We don't know. Spike and I were... about to..." Buffy hinted towards the obvious. "And Em came in and said that something was wrong with Linn. We found her in her bed just tossing her turning. She was burning up. I thought it was a seizure at first but she's not convulsing and she's not clenching her teeth either." Buffy explained to Willow.

Willow knelt down beside the tub and felt Linn's forehead which was still hot. "Oooh. She is warm."

Grabbing her bag from her shoulder, Willow sat the bag in her lap and pulled out a few things. She had a little cup that she dunked in the water to fill the cup about half way. She pulled a vial of powder from her bag and mixed it with the water. Then she grabbed another powder and put that in there as well.

"What's that?" Buffy asked.

"It's a concoction I created. Tara has a friend who gets sick a lot. I was trying to come up with a natural way to help with her fevers. I'm only using a little since Linn is so much smaller." Willow explained.

Buffy didn't like that they had to guess and hope for everything but it was all she had right now.

"We have to wake her up and get her to drink this." Willow said firmly.

"We've tried to, Will. Nothing is waking her up." Buffy explained to the red head.

Nodding her head, Willow sighed and closed her eyes. She said a small, quiet chant and within seconds, Linn's eyes flashed open. Immediately she began to cough violently.

Spike sat up straight, making his daughter sit up straight. He rubbed her back and patted it slightly to try and calm the cough but it only seemed to grow worse.

"She's gonna puke." Spike said quickly. "Trash bin! Now!"

Willow grabbed the empty waste basket and handed it to Spike. He held it in front of Linn's face just in time for her to start vomiting into it. Willow reached over and held the little girl's hair back for her.

"Let it out, love. Go ahead." Spike said softly. Whatever it was that was causing his daughter to become ill, she needed to get it out of her system. "Daddy's here, sweetie." Spike planted a kiss on the top of his daughter's head as she coughed up what she could.

When she was done Linn laid back against Spike as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Shh. It's alright." Spike whispered and rubbed her arms softly.

"Mummy." Linn cried out for her mother.

"I'm here, baby. I'm here." Buffy said loud enough for her daughter to hear her voice.

"Mummy, mummy." Linn cried harder as she reached for her mother.

"I'm here, Malin. Daddy's got you. You need to stay there." Buffy's heart was breaking. If this was just some sort of sickness, it was one hell of a sickness. She wanted to pick her daughter up into her arms and take all of the pain away but she couldn't.

"Mummy!" Linn cried harder and began to struggle in her father's arms but Spike held her firmly. Not enough to hurt her either.

"Will..." Buffy said, trying not to cry.

"Linn, here, take this." Willow said and held out the cup but the little girl stuck her nose up at it.

"Malin Joyce, you have to take this." Spike spoke just as firmly as he held onto his daughter.

"NO! MUMMY!" Buffy put her hand over her mouth to try and keep her own cry from coming out. It was ripping her up to see Linn like this.

"She needs to take it or the fever isn't going to come down." Willow said to Spike.

"I'm gonna have to hold her mouth open." Spike said, still struggling to keep his daughter in his arms.

"She needs to take it, Spike." Willow said again.

Spike hated having to be the enforcer but he was the strongest person they knew and he wasn't going to hurt his children especially not on purpose.

It was an effort on both Willow and Spike's part. He reached up and firmly took Linn's chin in his hand as Willow timed the moment she could toss the liquid into her mouth but it wasn't going to work. They needed more hands.

"Let me help." Buffy begged Willow seeing that they were having such a difficult time with her.

"No. We can't afford you to catch what she has, if it's an illness at all." Spike demanded of Buffy.

"Let me." Giles said as he leaned over the tub. "You two hold her, I will do the medicine."

Willow handed the medicine to Giles. Spike wrapped his arms around Linn and Willow took a hold of Linn's forehead in one hand and her other held the child's jaw.

"Quickly. Before I lose my grip." Willow said to Giles.

Quickly, Giles poured the liquid down the child's throat. She coughed and sputtered in response but she swallowed the majority of it.

Willow and Spike let go immediately once the concoction was gone. What little bit spilled out and that Linn managed to cough out, Spike used a rag and wiped it up.

Buffy immediately stood up and grabbed a towel. She couldn't take it any longer. Linn still cried for her mother.

"Willow, move." Buffy said firmly.

"Buffy, I don't think-" Willow tried to explain.

"No. Don't think. Just move." Buffy said once more.

Willow got off of her feet and moved out of the mother's way.

"Buffy, stop." Spike demanded.

"Spike, let her go. She wants me. I can't do this. Just let me take her." Buffy argued back with the vampire.

"But if you catch something that is going to harm that baby, you're not going to forgive yourself. Linn will be fine, she is just out of it because of the fever." Spike tried to reason with Buffy but the mother wasn't having it.

"I don't care. I'm taking my child." Buffy pushed Spike's hands off of Linn.

Buffy pulled her daughter up from her father, wrapped her in the towel and picked her up into her arms.

"Mummy... mummy..." Linn cried in her mothers arms. She wrapped her arms around Buffy's neck and held her tight.

"I know, baby. I know. I've got you. Mommy's got you." Buffy walked past Giles and Willow and walked into her own bed room.

Spike quickly got up and looked at Willow and Giles who stood looking at one another. They had just come between a mother and child, not the smartest thing to do.

"Mind stepping out for a moment?" Spike said with a slight chuckle.

Willow and Giles nodded and left the bathroom, shutting the door behind them to give Spike the privacy to undress and pull a towel around his waist.

Inside their bedroom, Buffy sat down on her bed with Linn in her arms.

Spike came in, moments later and grabbed a sleeping Emmy from his side of the bed. "I'm putting her in her room." Spike said quietly. Buffy simply nodded in response and Spike walked out.

"Mummy... mummy..." Linn cried once more as Buffy laid down in the bed with Linn and rubbed her back.

"Shh. It's okay. Mommy's here." Buffy stroked Linn's back as they lay there. "Shh. Calm down, baby. Calm down." Buffy continued to try and sooth her daughter.

Meanwhile, Spike tucked Emmy in her bed and walked out to the hallway to see Giles and Willow.

"Do you want me to stay?" Willow asked Spike who wore a towel around his waist.

"It's okay. Go home, get some rest. We will monitor her fever through the night. If we need anything we will call." Spike smiled. "Thank you both for rushing over. Whatever this is, it's never happened before." Spike explained.

Giles nodded. "They are like granddaughters to me. I'm a phone call away if you need me." Giles patted Spike on the shoulder.

"Same. Just call me if you need anything. Here." Willow went into her purse and pulled out a few things. "These are for the fever." She said, handing him three vials of each of the powders. "Mix them together equal parts and keep giving that to her. That should keep the fever down. Here is some oil to put in her food or drink. It's to help if she starts throwing up again." Willow sighed softly. "Take it easy on Buffy, please." Willow said, defending her best friend.

"I just.. I don't know, Will, something feels off. I worry about the bit." Spike sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I know but this is Buffy we are talking about. She will be fine, Spike." Willow insisted. "Just call if you need me."

Spike nodded his head and watched the two walk down the stairs and outside.

Walking back into his bedroom, Linn was no longer crying out for Buffy but she was gasping slightly and hiccuping here and there like children tend to do after they had a loud, hard cry.

Without saying a word, Spike began to pull some clothes on while Buffy soothed their oldest.

"Her fever is coming down." Buffy whispered, hoping it was loud enough for Spike to hear which indeed it was.

Spike turned from pulling his shirt over his head. Slowly he laid down on the other side of Linn who was curled up against her mother.

"Good." Spike whispered back. "Look love, I'm-"

"Don't." Buffy said, shaking her head. "Not now. Please." Buffy looked into Spike's eyes. "Just let it go." Buffy insisted. She didn't want to focus on them right now. It wasn't the time.

Spike nodded and placed his hand against his daughter's leg and rubbed gently. "She's not as warm." He simply said to Buffy. "Willow gave me some more of that stuff in case she needs more." Spike smiled a little.

"Good. I'll call her in the morning and make sure I thank her." Buffy smiled. She loved Willow dearly and was lucky enough to call her, her best friend.

Right now, it was time to take care of Linn who was starting to fall asleep once again in her mother's protective embrace.

 _...TBC..._


	3. Chapter 3 - Across The Sky

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Three – Across the Sky

* * *

When Buffy woke the next day, Linn was thrashing in bed slightly again. The slayer who had barely slept last night, groggily laid her hand against her daughter's forehead which was starting to get warm again. She cast her eyes beside her to see Spike still fast asleep on his side facing them.

"Spike." Buffy croaked. Her voice was harsh for having just woken up. "Spike, wake up." This time, Buffy reached over and shook Spike awake.

The vampire stirred and opened his eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked, reluctant to wake up.

"I need some more of that stuff. Linn's tossing and turning again." Buffy informed the vampire sleeping on the other side of her daughter.

Spikes eyes made their way to glance at Linn who was only just beginning to move about. It woke him up quickly.

Throwing the covers off of him, Spike got up and grabbed the stuff that Willow had given him last night. He walked out of the room, leaving Buffy to sit up and pull Linn into her lap as best as she could with her growing belly slightly in the way.

Spike returned minutes later and walked over to Buffy, handing her the cup in his hand.

"Come on, moonshine. Wake up." Buffy said as she gently shook the child. She had no response to her waking up. She was getting worried quite quickly.

"Is there a way we can get her to swallow it like this?" Spike asked curiously.

Buffy shook her head. "She will choke if we do that." She sighed. "We need to wake her up."

"I have an idea."

Spike walked out of the bed room. When he came back in he carried a wet rag. Spike held it over his daughter's forehead and squeezed. The water was bitterly cold.

Within seconds the little girl woke suddenly.

"There we go. Come on baby, drink this." Buffy said, holding the cup to Linn's mouth.

"No!" Linn cried, putting her hands up to push it away. "Mummy, no!"

Buffy had to be firm and push her own feelings aside. "Malin Joyce, you need to drink this. Now come on. Open up." Buffy said, holding her daughter firmly with one hand.

"No!" The seven year old shouted and pushed the cup out of Buffy's hands causing it to fly out of Buffy's grasp and spilling on the bed.

"Damnitt!" Buffy gasped.

Linn's cries grew harder as she tried to twist and turn in Buffy's arms. Buffy was beginning to give in, letting Linn turn in her arms. The little girl wrapped her arms around Buffy's neck and hugged her tight as she cried.

Buffy looked up at Spike with desperation in her eyes. Spike had picked up the cup.

"What do I do?" Buffy asked, hoping Spike could hear her over Linn's cries.

"I'll put it in her drink. It's the only other option we have." Spike suggested.

Buffy nodded. "I'll stay here with her." Buffy said before letting out a little yawn.

Spike left and came back about ten minutes later. By now Linn's cries had grown so loud that the sound was piercing Buffy's ears. She still held the child in her arms but she was having a hard time with the piercing cries.

"Look, baby. Daddy's got your juice." Buffy said to Linn.

Buffy could see Linn's eyes dilate quickly even through her tears with the smell of the blood. She turned in her mother's arms to look at the cup that Spike had.

Spike handed the cup over and Linn drank it quickly.

Buffy rubbed Linn's back while she drank. "Good, girl. Good. See, it will make you feel much better." Buffy smiled.

Once she was done, Linn settled in Buffy's lap and was hiccuping from the crying. Buffy consoled her baby girl. She may not have been a baby anymore but it was still her baby.

As the minutes passed, Linn began to drift back to sleep in Buffy's lap, her cheek pressed against her mother's pregnant belly.

"Can you take her? I need to pee." Buffy asked Spike.

Spike nodded and walked over to pick up his oldest. He wrapped his arms around his daughter and picked her up into his arms. Her forehead pressed against his neck and her body laid against his while he carried her with his arms supporting her bottom.

Buffy got up and quickly went into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and sighed. She felt like a horrible mother. How was she going to do this? There were things about being a mother to half-bread children that she needed help with. How was she going to know that she was doing a good job? Just keeping her children alive wasn't the answer. That would be her just barely scraping by. It would be like any normal person having children but the parent not doing their job to enrich their child's life. God knows she would _never_ ever neglect her children. She just hoped she could figure it all out.

* * *

"I swear Willow it was the strangest thing." Buffy said over the phone. "Yeah when she woke up again she was fine. It was like nothing ever happened." Buffy added.

The slayer got up from sitting in the chair in the dinning room and peeked into the play room to see Linn playing on the floor with her baby sister.

"Yeah. I was thinking about it this afternoon. I have an idea of what might have caused it but I'm not sure. I'll call you later though. Thanks again, Will." With that, Buffy hung up the phone and laid it on the table.

"Malin?" Buffy called out as she walked into the living room.

"Yes mum?" Linn asked, looking over at Buffy.

"Come here, please." Buffy sat down on the couch. Her back was throbbing from her rough night with her daughter.

Linn stood up and hurried into the living room from the play room.

"Am I in trouble?" Linn asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure." Buffy said honestly. "Malin have you been drinking your juice?" Buffy asked the seven year old curiously.

"Yes." Linn replied to her curious mother.

"Really? Are you being honest with me? You know I don't appreciate when you lie." Buffy warned her. Buffy could see it in Linn's face that her daughter was not being truthful with her. "You're drinking it at school?"

Linn cast her eyes down to the floor and sighed. She was caught.

"Malin Joyce Pratt look at me." Buffy ordered firmly.

Linn slowly brought her eyes up to look at Buffy.

"Why?" Buffy asked, her voice demanding an answer.

"The other kids laugh at me, mummy." Linn sighed. Almost immediately, Buffy's features softened. Frankly, Buffy was a little shocked. "They call me a vampire and make fun of me. They tell me my juice looks like blood and don't want to play with me because I can't go outside." Linn's eyes watered with tears that wanted to fall down her little round face.

"Baby, you need to tell me these things." Buffy sighed.

"I didn't want you to get mad at me." Linn sniffled. "No one wants to be my friend. They just laugh at me and call me a freak." Linn looked down as she started to cry.

"Oh, moonshine." Buffy took her daughter into her arms and hugged her. "You are different than those children, Malin." Buffy whispered in her ear. "You are not a freak, baby. You are special but you are not a freak. You know you need to drink your juice if you want to grow up to be strong like daddy and I." Buffy explained to her oldest.

"I just... I-I-I w-w-want friends." Linn cried on her mother's shoulder.

Buffy's heart felt like it was breaking for Linn. There's one thing that life doesn't prepare you for when it comes to kids; bullying.

"I know, baby. Trust me, I know." Buffy remembered what it felt like to become such an outcast among her peers for being a slayer. She knew that feeling all too well and to know that her daughter, at seven years old was already experiencing that, upset her.

"Listen to me." Buffy pulled away and looked into Linn's eyes while cupping her daughter's face to wipe away the tears with her thumbs. "I'm going to go up to school and talk to your teacher, okay? Whoever is calling you names and whoever is making fun of you, is not allowed to say those mean things to you. Mommy is going to do whatever it takes, okay?" Linn nodded in response.

"Mummy? Do I really drink blood?" Linn asked her mother suddenly.

Buffy sighed. She wanted to tell her the truth. She wanted to be honest with her but when the secrets of Linn's health and the origins behind her conception are supernatural in reason, Buffy had to tread lightly. She wasn't old enough to understand. The child couldn't even remember being kidnapped by Drusilla and Angelus.

"No. You don't. It's just a... special drink that helps you grow. There's something missing in your body and the drink replaces it." That was the simplest way Buffy could think to put it.

"Oh... Okay." Linn nodded, actually understanding what her mother said.

"Lets make a deal. Okay? You drink your juice like you're supposed to and I'll talk to daddy about doing more things with you and Emmy. How's that sound?" Buffy asked Linn. She nodded happily at her mother as a smile formed on her face.

It wasn't often they were able to do things as a family because of Buffy being the slayer and Spike being a vampire. They were limited to what they could and couldn't do but Buffy knew they could make more time for family time.

"Okay, go play. But please, take it easy kid. You need to get your strength back up. In a couple of minutes you're going to drink more of your juice, got it?" Buffy smiled. Linn nodded back to her mother before walking back into the playroom to play.

Buffy sighed. Her suspicions had been proven correct. If Linn wasn't drinking the blood like she was supposed to, it had to have been making her sick. Buffy wondered how it worked. She wondered if it was because Linn had seemed to give up the blood cold turkey. Maybe it was causing the fevers and the thrashing in her sleep. Her body was calling out because it needed it. She also wondered if maybe it was Linn's vampire.

The only thing that truly worried Buffy about her children being half-vampire was the demon part. Would they be like Spike where their demon was in their heads mentally and they constantly had to fight? Would it be like someone with multiple personalities? Would there even be an evil side like that to them? Or would they be normal? The worse thing she wanted for her children is for them to have to face such an obstacle like that. She wanted them to be happy and healthy. They deserved that. They were just kids.

 _...TBC..._


	4. Chapter 4 - Parachute

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Four – Parachute

* * *

The house was eerily quiet when Spike walked up to the house. He could hear the television in the living room but that was it. The lights were off and the only light that could be seen from the porch was the light that came from the television. He wondered what Buffy and the girls had been doing while he had gone on a blood run. They were buying it from an underground dealer in bulk now. It was expensive but Buffy didn't care nor did Spike.

Spike opened the door to the house and peeked his head in. He could see Buffy's legs and the top of her head. From there it looked like she was sleeping with her legs propped up on the coffee table and a blanket draped over her.

Shutting the door behind him, Spike went inside further to investigate. He smiled when the scene came in full view to him. Buffy was lounged back on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table. Linn sat at one side of her with her feet propped up on Buffy's leg and her cheek resting against her mother's arm. Emmy laid with her head in Buffy's lap and her body laying long ways on the opposite side of the couch. All three were asleep and the television blasted with cartoons.

It was hard to be completely quiet with the duster on. Spike took off the trench coat and hung it on the coat rack beside the door before quietly walking across the living room to the television to turn it off.

The sudden change in light caused Buffy to stir. Spike stood up and looked over at his three girls. Buffy didn't actually wake up.

So one by one, Spike took the girls to bed. First with Linn. He scooped up his daughter into his arms and she wrapped her arms around Spike's neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She nuzzled her face gently against her father's neck, feeling the familiar embrace to be amazingly comforting. Gently, he laid Linn in bed once he arrived in her room and tucked her in.

Then, Spike went down for Emmy. Emmy on the other hand simply laid against her father's chest and let out a small snore. Spike tried not to laugh, fearing that it would wake her up. Her arms hung at the sides and her cheek pressed against Spike. He walked upstairs to the bedroom for the girls and tucked Emmy in as quietly as possible.

Spike made sure to kiss his daughters before closing their door slowly to return downstairs to the living room.

Once in the living room, Spike grabbed the blanket from Buffy's body and folded it before laying it on the arm of the couch. He reached down and gently picked the pregnant slayer up into his arms bridal style. She stirred in his arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his neck.

"Where are we going?" Buffy's voice came quietly. The slayer sounded half asleep still.

"To bed, love." Spike softly replied.

"What about the dog?" Buffy asked curiously.

It took everything in him not to burst into a fit of laughter. Buffy must have been dreaming. "Buffy, we don't have a dog." Spike whispered before planting a kiss on her forehead.

"But he wants-" Buffy slowly began to drift back to sleep.

"Shh." Spike said softly just as he used his foot to push their door open.

Spike walked over to the familiar bed. Gently he placed Buffy on her side of the bed. Her arms slipped from off of his shoulders as he laid her down. He pulled the blankets back before Buffy rolled to her side and curled up in their bed. Spike smiled while pulling the blankets up over her.

"Sweet dreams, pet." Spike whispered to Buffy. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before walking back out of the room.

Once downstairs, Spike grabbed the bag he had taken off of his shoulder when he took his duster off. He walked downstairs into the basement to the extra fridge where they kept their stash of the blood. He would take a few packs upstairs to the kitchen but mainly they stayed down here in the basement where the girls not only didn't like to go, but where they couldn't get into them.

Everything was put away in a short time. Spike warmed up some blood for himself when he heard footsteps. His eyes searched in the dark for a sign of who was coming until the tiny figure came into view.

"Daddy?" Emmy asked. She was rubbing her eyes while walking into the kitchen.

"Emily, what are you doing awake, love?" Spike asked his youngest.

"Daddy, I'm firsty." Emmy whined softly.

"Come here. You can have some of Daddy's juice." Spike knelt down as his daughter came to him.

Spike held the mug in his hand and gently lifted it to Emmy's lips. She put her hands around the mug and slowly took a little drink. She used the sleeve of her nightgown to wipe her mouth which caused Spike to smile. This was definitely his child.

"Better?" Spike asked, looking into Emmy's eyes.

Emmy nodded. "Daddy can I seep with you and mummy tonight?" Emmy asked her father.

Spike sighed. "Emmy you have your own big girl bed to sleep in, love." Spike said, trying to encourage his daughter to sleep in her own bed.

With Buffy being as pregnant as she was, she was finding it hard to sleep which in turn was making it harder when one of the girls would come into the bed room at night or want to sleep with them. Their bed was only so big. Thankfully Buffy was petite but her belly wasn't any help.

"I know. I juss miss you daddy." Emmy's arms wrapped around her father's neck and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Spike felt the warm 'tinglies', as he called them, rising in his spine. The one thing that made him not feel like such a monster were his girls. He melted like chocolate in the palms of their hands. Saying no to the girls was almost impossible, times like this. Mainly because children are so candid. Their feelings are real and genuine. They don't necessarily understand that you could lie about how you feel so their feelings and their wants were natural.

Spike sighed and scooped Emmy up into his arm so he could stand up. He finished off the rest of the blood in the cup and put the mug in the sink.

"Come on. You can come sleep with me and mummy." Spike couldn't resist. His daughters were his weakness for sure.

Of course when you had daughters who resembled their mother so much, Spike knew not only was he wrapped around their fingers, but he was going to have to push the boys off of the doorstep when they were older. If they resembled Buffy then as much as they do now, he was going to have to set up shop out on the porch and guard the house with an iron fist.

When he got into his bed room, Buffy was still turned on her side with her back facing the door. He could hear her heavy breathing and slight snoring. Every time Buffy had been pregnant she had oddly developed a quiet snore.

Spike kicked his shoes off by the dresser before sitting Emmy down on the bed. He changed into a pair of sweat pants and climbed into bed with Emmy between Spike and Buffy.

As soon as Spike was laying down, Emmy curled up in her father's arms. Spike laid on his side facing Emmy and Buffy and kept his arms around Emmy before the two of them drifted off.

* * *

"Yeah I'd like to speak to her teacher." The annoyed mother of two said to the lady at the desk. She held her daughter's hand and looked down at the woman.

"Well, I'm sorry but you have to make an appointment." The secretary glanced over Buffy with a face that was pure dislike. Frankly, Buffy didn't like her either.

"Listen, my daughter has a rare medical condition and I need to make sure that Ms. Lawson understands what is going on because it's really upsetting Linn." Buffy tried to be reasonable with the secretary.

"Like I said, Ms. Summers you are going to have to make an appointment with her teacher. You can't just come up here and expect to talk to the teacher at random." The secretary tried to explain.

"Fine." Buffy sighed in frustration and looked down at Emmy who was watching the two women. "When is she free then?" Buffy asked while running a hand through her long growing hair.

"You have to call her during after school hours. I don't keep their schedules up here with me." The secretary explained further.

Buffy was getting incredibly annoyed and frustrated with this secretary who was being of no help to her. "Fine." Buffy bent down and picked Emmy up into her arms which was slightly uncomfortable due to her pregnant belly. She turned and walked out of the office of her daughter's school.

"Mummy? Wha's wrong wif Linny?" Emmy asked her mother curiously.

"Nothing, baby. Mommy would just really like to speak to Linny's teacher." Buffy informed Emmy as they walked out of the school and toward the car.

"Linny is bad?" Emmy asked with a look of excitement almost on her face. It caused Buffy to crack a smile.

"No, Em." Buffy said with a chuckle. "Linny is not bad. You are so nosy, kid." Buffy kissed her daughter's cheek before opening the back door of her car and strapping Emmy into her car seat.

Once Buffy was in the car, she started it and sped off. She grabbed her phone from her purse and dialed the house.

Back at the house, Spike had been working on lunch for Buffy and Emmy when the house phone rang.

"Hello?" Spike said after picking up the phone.

"Can you believe this? I couldn't talk to her then. No I have to call back during after school hours so I can make an appointment with her personally." Buffy growled into the phone.

Spike sighed. "If you'd like I can call, I've spoke to her teacher before. Of course if she wants me in the meeting we'd have to ask her to dinner." Spike joked, hoping to lighten the mood for Buffy.

He succeeded in making the slayer chuckle. "Very funny." Buffy said.

"Apparently so, you laughed." Spike smiled and wiped his hands on a towel. "Are you headed home now?" Spike asked.

"Yeah. I just have to get gas and then I'll be home. Do you need anything?" Buffy pulled up to a stop light.

"I'd love to say a pack of smokes." Spike chuckled.

"Uhh, no." Buffy laughed. "You haven't smoked since Linn was born, you're not about to start now while I'm pregnant."

"I know, I know." Spike laughed. Of course he missed the familiar taste of tobacco. "No, I don't need anything." Spike said at last.

"Alright. I'll be home shortly. I love you."

"I love you too."

With that the two hung up their phones. Spike went back to fixing lunch and Buffy tossed her phone to land on the passenger seat where her purse was.

* * *

Buffy ran a hand through her hair as she paced the kitchen, holding the phone up to her ear. "No, I understand." Buffy sighed. "But she has a medical condition, Ms. Lawson and frankly when my child is coming home when she had neglected to take her medication because the children are calling her names then it's the school's responsibility to see that the situation is adjusted." Buffy tried to keep herself calm but it was hard for the slayer to keep calm.

"No, when my child is in school, the school is responsible for her well being. I expect my daughter to come home every day in the same shape that I left her in when I dropped her off in the morning. When my daughter is going into shock because the school isn't properly monitoring that she's not taking the medication that she needs then maybe I should consider taking my daughter out of school all together and filing a complaint with the board." Buffy was really starting to get angry now.

"No, William is not home." Buffy rolled her eyes. He insisted the teacher know him by his real name as opposed to Spike. Apparently Spike didn't think the teachers would take Linn's father seriously with a name like 'Spike'. "He's going to tell you the same thing, Ms. Lawson. He is just as angry as I am and if something doesn't improve, I will take Malin out of school and I will report you. It's simple. You are responsible for my child between 8 AM and 4 PM. Malin takes her medicine four times a day. She gets it at 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and at 4 PM before she leaves school-" Buffy was cut off by the teacher's words. Buffy raised a brow.

"Are you calling my daughter a liar?" Buffy's voice was merely a warning for this woman to watch what she said. "She has no reason to lie, Ms. Lawson. If my daughter's medication is administered to her at school through your staff's care, how is it that nor you or the nurse bothered to call me and tell me that my daughter has been neglecting to take her medication? You don't know how important that medication is. What if she would have died? What then is it my fault because I'm her mother? Or would you try to make her father out to be the problem? I mean let's be real here, a child is in your care but oh it's never your fault is it? It all comes back to the parents. Right?"

Buffy was growing tired of Linn's teacher. Willow had a friend who was giving Buffy bottles with fake prescriptions on it so she could fill the bottles with the blood and pass it off as medication for Linn so that she could take it at school. The only problem was the school had to administer it to Linn and if she didn't show up to take it, they didn't bother to call her down to the office to take it.

"I don't care. My daughter is dependent on this medication and she can not live without it. And frankly I don't appreciate having to listen to you tell me that nothing is your fault when clearly this has been going on for quite some time that my daughter is not only not taking her medication but also being picked on. She came home with a bruised cheek today! You mean to tell me you didn't see another child clock my daughter in the face? That's just bullshit." Buffy shouted into the phone now at this point. "You know what. Forget I called. I'm done. Thank you for your time but I'm just going to put Linn in another school."

Buffy slammed the phone down and let out a frustrated moan of anger.

Moments later, Buffy looked up when Spike came through the back door. Immediately he could see the anger written across Buffy's face.

Spike put the take out bags on the counter.

"Did you talk to her?"Spike asked, knowing that Buffy was supposed to call Linn's teacher while he was out getting take out for dinner.

"She told me that it is the school nurse that I should be talking to about them not monitoring Linn getting the blood during the day at school. She says Linn knows when she is supposed to leave the classroom to go to the nurse's office and apparently she hasn't been leaving the classroom like she usually has and apparently she "thought" Linn was no longer taking her "medication" because she hasn't been leaving class when she's supposed to." Buffy explained as her frustration showed on her face.

"What about the bullying?" Spike asked as he started to take out the containers of food from the bags and sit them on the counter.

"She said she had no idea that the kids were making fun of Linn and that she never saw anyone hit her today and that she seemed perfectly fine and that if someone had hit her then it was Linn's fault for not coming and telling her." Buffy leaned against the counter and shook her head. "I'm taking her out of school and I'm going to find another school or I'm going to home school her. I can't do this. I'm not going to sit here and listen to these teachers tell me-" Buffy suddenly went quiet and grimaced. She pressed her hand to her side.

"Love?" Spike noticed this and immediately went to Buffy's side.

"I'm okay." Buffy said as she winced in pain. "I'm okay."

"You don't look okay. That's the second time today." Spike said before placing his hand on Buffy's belly. "Are you having contractions?" Spike asked his girlfriend.

Buffy thought about lying to Spike, not wanting him to worry. "Yes." She couldn't lie to him.

"But the baby isn't due for another couple of weeks." Spike said, his face full of alarm.

"I know. I felt contractions with Linn and Emmy weeks before I had them too. I'll be fine. Let's just eat dinner and I'll relax afterwards." Buffy said to Spike.

Spike rubbed Buffy's swollen belly with his hand before leaning in to kiss her softly. She gladly returned the action of affection.

"You need to rest and you need to relax. I'll call Lawson tomorrow and I'll talk to her. You focus on relaxing, love." Spike said before stepping away to grab plates from the cabinet. "Go grab the girls and sit down. I'll bring the food in."

Buffy smiled. She never expected Spike to be the way that he was. He was still shocking her left and right even after almost eight years of being with him romantically. He was softer and more gentle than even Angel ever was and he was a vampire with a soul. No human man had ever shown Buffy as much love and care as Spike, a vampire of all things, had shown her. She wondered how she ever got so lucky.

 _...TBC..._


	5. Chapter 5 - Miracle

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Five – Miracle

* * *

Trying to fit the shirt over her large belly was turning out to be more difficult than she expected. "So much for maternity wear." Buffy sighed, giving up and taking the shirt off completely. She tossed the shirt in the trash and turned to go grab another shirt from her closet. She decided to settle on the black long sleeve shirt that seemed to always fit over her belly.

Once she was dressed, Buffy walked out of her bed room and down the hall where her daughter's room was. Buffy walked into the room and began picking up their clothes from the morning. Linn was at school and Emmy was out with Willow and Tara. She decided she would get some much needed cleaning done while Spike slept and the girls were out.

The slayer began to straighten up their bed room. Making their beds, putting their clean laundry away and grabbing their dirty laundry to take into the basement with her to add to the rest of the laundry that needed to be washed.

Domestic life was a lot more enjoyable for Buffy since becoming a mother. Her slayer duties had been put on hold, especially the last few months. Motherhood was never something Buffy thought she would enjoy once she became a slayer. But here she was, a slayer and two children with one on the way. She was actually enjoying the little things about domestic life. It was like she was on a vacation from being a slayer and getting to feel... normal.

Buffy made her way down into the basement with a hamper full of clothes which were a mixture of all of their clothes. She sat the hamper down and began removing the clothes from the dryer. She sat them on the table so they could be folded. She walked over to the washer and began throwing those clothes into the dryer. She threw in a dryer sheet and turned the dryer on before beginning to separate the darks and colors from the whites to throw into the washer when she got another pain.

The pregnant blond winced in pain. Her hand rubbed the underside of her belly while her other hand gripped the washer to keep herself standing. She gasped as the pain grew momentarily. "Oh god." Buffy whimpered. "Please, don't do this." She whispered once more. It was the second time that morning that she was feeling another contraction.

Once the contraction subsided, Buffy went on about the laundry. She was in the middle of folding clothes when she heard the telephone ring. She moved as fast as she could, being pregnant and all, to make her way upstairs and into the kitchen.

"Hello?" Buffy said when she answered the phone. "This is she." Buffy yawned and leaned against the wall. "No Malin is in Ms. Lawson's class." Buffy perked up a little when she realized the person on the other end was speaking about her daughter. "She bit him? A-Are you sure?" Buffy put her hand over her mouth as worry came over her. "N-No. I'll be right there." Buffy quickly hung up the phone and grabbed the keys to her car.

* * *

"No biting! How many times have we told you that, Malin? No biting! You can punch, y-you can hit and you can kick! But no biting!" Buffy yelled at her seven year old who stood in their living room looking very angry.

"He started it, mum! He bit me first!" Linn argued.

"I don't care! You tell the teacher!" Buffy began to pace as she put her hand to her head. "I don't understand why you don't listen. I keep trying to tell you these things and you just don't get it. You can't just go around doing whatever you want because you feel the urge to do these things. You want to bite someone now? I mean this is just great. I thought we wouldn't have to deal with this until maybe you were in your teens but already you're getting the urge to bite people." Buffy began to ramble as the worry filled her.

"Mummy, I said I was sorry!" Linn tried to explain. "Cody bit me and I couldn't help it! I just bit back!"

Buffy turned and looked at her daughter. "You have no idea what you could have done, Malin." Buffy sat down on the edge of the coffee table and grabbed her daughter's shoulders firmly. "You are special, okay? If you bite someone you have the power to seriously hurt them. This Cody kid had to go to the hospital and we are going to be lucky if his mother and father don't press charges on us. Malin they could take you and Emmy away from us." Buffy didn't want to burden her daughter with a grown up problem, she just wanted her to be a kid but the fact that Linn had bit a boy at school and even managed to drink some of his blood, it was hard to think of her as a child in that moment.

"I don't want them to take me away!" Linn suddenly cried.

"I don't want them to either! This is why you can't do these things." Buffy wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her close. She stroked her daughters hair as she closed her eyes. "I love you girls more than anything in the world and if someone tries to take you away from me and your dad, I'll never be able to live with myself." Buffy sighed as she pushed her tears back at the thought of her world being snatched from her arms.

Footsteps could be heard as Spike hurried down the stairs to join his girlfriend and daughter while pulling his shirt over his head.

"You are in big trouble, little miss." Spike growled before rounding the corner to see Buffy holding Linn in her arms. "So this is how we punish them?" Spike asked, suddenly confused. "I thought I was the good guy." Spike said as he looked in on them.

"She got a lip full from me in the car and when we got here, okay?" Buffy sighed.

"And you're consoling her for that?" Spike raised a brow. "This parenting thing is just bloody confusing sometimes."

Buffy eyed Spike. "Enough with the English cursing, Spike, please." Buffy said before she pulled Linn away and looked down at her daughter. "Go to your room for a little bit. I need to talk with dad." Buffy said to Linn.

Linn simply nodded and ran up the stairs to her room.

Buffy slowly stood up and looked over at Spike. "I'm taking her out of school. Plain and simple. They can't be around normal kids."

"Well what happened?" Spike asked while running a hand through his hair.

"This kid Cody in her class apparently bit Linn so she bit him back but she kinda... drank some of him." Buffy grimaced at the last part.

"Oh well done! Why are we going to punish her then, love? She needs to be able to stick up for herself." Spike threw his arms up in confusion.

"Because if the authorities get involved, they will take Emily and Malin and this new baby away from us. Do you want that? D-do you want our children to be taken away after fighting so hard to keep just one? We will then have to fight for three and not from some demon we can just kill. No this will be real humans who have the authority to take our children away." Buffy explained to Spike.

"Of course I don't want them taken from me but I damn sure will not punish my child for sticking up for herself." Spike shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, pet, but I will not fight her. She needs to be able to protect herself."

Buffy sighed, "And you make a valid point but not with biting. Biting is dangerous for the girls. They've never drunk human blood from the source. They have never tasted that sort of... thing. What if it causes them to lose control and we end up with a seven year old killer on our hands? How do we protect her? How to we explain to some poor kid's parents? Oh I'm sorry, my boyfriend's a vampire and I'm a slayer and we had to fulfill a prophecy to save a bunch of people and oh look we had a kid out of it and decided to keep it. Excuse my daughter she's half vampire, she likes the occasional taste of the second grader." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and sighed heavily again.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Spike sighed as well.

"I don't know what we are going to do. I just know for her safety and for our sake she's going to be pulled from school and I will hire a tutor or home school her myself. This can't happen again." Buffy explained as she went to walk out of the room.

Before Buffy could get to the kitchen she felt another sharp pain. This time it was intense and it caused her to fall against the wall, pulling the phone from the wall and making a loud crash on the floor.

"Buffy?" Spike called out. He heard her shriek from the kitchen which caused him to run into the kitchen.

Spike looked down to see Buffy sitting against the wall grabbing her stomach in pain. His eyes drifted down when he smelled the familiar scent of her blood. With her skirt hitched up from the fall, he could see the red blood that was beginning to drip down between her thighs.

Buffy looked up at Spike, her bottom lip quivering. "Something's wrong."

* * *

The waiting game was the hardest. The waiting was the worst part about being in the hospital. Not knowing. Watching the others walk around, some hustling. The smell of blood mixed with hand sanitizer. It was clean to most but to a vampire, he could smell the stench of death. He could smell every stained splatter and drop. It was easy for a vampire to find it both terrifying and comforting.

Spike held Emily in his lap as she slept against him, her thumb secured between her lips. Linn laid on the couch beside him with her head in his lap. He stroked her hair and back while she slept.

Glancing around the room, Tara, Xander and Anya seemed the most relaxed. Dawn looked more worried of them all. Willow looked slightly frightened. Giles looked worried but Spike knew exactly what the watcher was thinking, that Buffy would pull through.

It had been hours now. Spike rushed Buffy to the hospital after the fall earlier. He wasn't a fan of hospitals but he had no choice. His guilty conscious wasn't going to allow him to just lay Buffy in their bed and call Willow, especially if something was wrong with Buffy and the baby. Still, they had no word from the doctors. No word whether either was dead or alive or if they were having tea and knitting baby booties. Either way, Spike was beginning to get antsy but he had to stay calm for his daughters who were rather scared that their mother and sibling were in danger.

More hours passed. Dawn and Tara took the girls to go get food from the cafeteria. Willow even had time to make a trip back to Buffy's to grab blood for the girls and came back in time. Still, there was no word. No doctor. Nothing. It was just an eerie silence that seemed to fall over the maternity ward. Spike wished he could just make everything okay but he wasn't sure that would be possible.

"Mr. Pratt?" Suddenly a doctor's voice called out.

Within an instant, Spike was standing and making his way to the short bald man. He didn't look like he had the skills to protect his lover and their child but Spike knew that humans were... human.

"That's me. Is Buffy okay? Is the baby okay?" Spike asked quickly.

"I'm Dr. Maynard. Well there were some complications. Does Buffy suffer from high blood pressure?" The doctor asked curiously.

Spike shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't think so."

Dr. Maynard sighed. "Well I'll just get right to it. Buffy and the baby are doing alright, for now. I need to tell you that your girlfriend is very lucky. It seems Buffy was suffering from pre-eclampsia. It usually begins sometime after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Which usually causes high blood pressure, severe headaches, vomiting, feeling unwell major swelling. Most cases in which if caught early on, this can be adjusted and looked after carefully. Buffy somehow survived as well as the baby which is a slim to none chance, especially seeing that your girlfriend has received no medical attention at all from a healthcare provider."

"Alright so... what happened?" Spike asked. Obviously if Buffy had this pre-eclampsia thing, what happened?

"Buffy's body was getting worse. If you had waited any longer, she would have went into full eclampsia and we could have lost her and the baby. Thankfully, we stabilized her blood pressure and were able to get your son out quite quickly. We are still running some tests but it looks like both Buffy and the baby will be fine."

 _'Your son.'_ The words struck Spike. A boy. They had a boy. He has a son. Tears welled up quickly in his eyes at the thought of seeing his girlfriend and their _son_.

"W-When can I see them?" Spike sniffled.

"Buffy is still in surgery. That's the other thing I wanted to discuss. Is Buffy a fighter? Does she get into a lot of fights? Physical fights?" Dr. Maynard asked.

Spike nodded his head. "She uh... She... She's a private detective. Get's a bit dodgy and violent at times." Spike lied.

"I see. I must say, your girlfriend is a walking, talking miracle. I'm shocked she had two children before let alone one." Dr. Maynard sighed and looked up at Spike. "I'm not sure how to tell you this but we had to tie Buffy's tubes. If she were to carry another child Mr. Pratt, she and the child could die. She has immense amounts of pelvic adhesions around her uterus and her ovaries which are usually as a result from previous surgeries or injuries sustained to the abdomen area."

Spike listened to the doctor closely. He wasn't familiar with most of the terminology but he understood the gist of it. Buffy's girly bits were damaged from the constant slayage that she wouldn't be having anymore children. It wasn't the end of the world however. They still had their three children.

"When can I see them?" Spike asked again.

"You may see your son any time you'd like. I will have a nurse come to update you when Buffy is out of surgery." Dr. Maynard gave Spike an apologetic smile. It never made the job easy.

"Thank you, doc. Truly. Thank you." Spike gave him a small smile. He saved the baby and Buffy. Could he really ask for more?

 _...TBC..._


	6. Chapter 6 - Traffic Lights

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Six – Traffic Lights

* * *

"Spike, he's beautiful." Willow giggled as she looked down at the baby boy in Spike's arms.

"Third time's a charm, eh?" Spike chuckled, looking at the witch.

"I'm sure you wanted a boy from the beginning." Dawn laughed as she looked down on her nephew.

"Oy. I love my girls." Spike said, nudging Dawn with his free arm. "I just always fancied having a mini-Spike running around wreaking havoc on the world. I planned to teach the little git a lot." Spike looked back down at his son in his arms who seemed to be right where he wanted to be in his father's embrace.

"Yeah well, if Buffy has any say in how this boy is raised, there will be no havoc wreaking." Willow said as she reached over and stroked the baby's cheek softly which caused the baby to squirm a little.

"How did you two manage to have three kids, all with different hair colors?" Dawn asked. She reached over and used her finger to stroke the dark brown hair on the boy's head.

Spike chuckled and shrugged. "Their hair seemed to just keep getting darker." Spike eyed his son's head of dark hair. "If my natural hair color wasn't so dark, I'd suspect the slayer was snogging someone else."

"Oh please. Look at the jaw on that kid. He's definitely yours." Dawn wanted to punch Spike in the arm for the joke, knowing that her sister would never do that to Spike but she definitely didn't want to disturb the baby.

"I can't wait till Buffy sees him. She's going to fall in love." Willow grinned.

"Well doc said it could be hours. He said the damage to her stomach was pretty severe. Didn't know how she even managed kids." Spike admitted. He still hadn't told the gang everything.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Apparently she's got scars around her girly bits. Doc said it was a miracle she was able to even carry one child to birth." Spike explained.

Dawn and Willow looked at one another before looking back at Spike. "Well of course we know there was the prophecy but do you think that gave you the ability to reproduce? Maybe a lasting affect?" Dawn asked curiously as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Spike shrugged. "I don't know. I mean I know Linn was our prophecy kid but Em and this little guy just popped up." Spike looked down at his son and thought for a moment. "Of course, after Linn, Buffy was pretty paranoid about getting pregnant all of a sudden and started taking birth control." Spike's eyes grew slightly wider and looked up at the women standing before him. "Do you think Buffy planned them?" Spike asked.

Willow shrugged. "It's possible but she seemed just as shocked as the rest of us when she said she was pregnant for the second time and the third." Willow looked at Dawn. "Did she say anything to you?"

Dawn shook her head in response. "She just told me she was pregnant. She never said anything to me about wanting to have more."

"Well it's not a bad thing either way." Willow said following the smile that spread across her face. "You two have a beautiful family. I-I think three is the perfect perfect number of kids."

Spike smirked and looked over at Willow. "Thanks, red."

* * *

When Spike's eyes fell on the slayer laying in the hospital bed, she looked bad. Her skin color had turned pale. Her eyes were dark with circles which matched the bruises along her arms from the nurses and doctors pricking her with needles and trying to find a good vein to stick another injection into her. He was slightly angered at how it looked as though his girlfriend had been carelessly poked and prodded with needles but Spike had to remind himself that it was for her and the baby. It was for their own good.

He stood there for a little while, just watching over her. For the first time in a long time, he studied her. Her hair had grown the longest he had ever seen. It was almost down to her lower back. He was used to seeing it wrapped up in a cute braid or some cute hairdo or it was down and flowing in curls or simply straight. Buffy had always managed to look her best at all times and she took care of herself. Right now, with her hair matted and pulled in a pony tail behind her head, it showed that this pregnancy was clearly different than the last.

Suddenly the signs of pre-eclampsia were there. She vomited pretty much her whole pregnancy, she had been complaining of headaches, back pain, she kept commenting on how swollen her feet had become along with the slight swelling in her hands. She slept a lot and was constantly not feeling well. She stopped doing her makeup and doing her hair in all of the cute ways she could think of. She even stopped doing the cute things to the girl's hair too. It became easier to do the simple pony tail and that was about it.

Spike felt guilt well up inside of him. He asked Buffy to go to the doctors several times. He should have pushed her harder. If they caught this earlier, things would have turned out different. But he couldn't blame himself too much. After all, the baby and Buffy were alive and well. They were resting and Spike knew that no matter what happened before, this was it. This was their family. There was no do-overs, no take-backs. This was it. There was no other chance for children. This was his whole world.

Buffy began to stir which made Spike's eyes shift to Buffy's face. She moaned in pain while bringing her hand up to her head. The tube from her IV caught the side of the bed which tugged on the needle taped to Buffy's hand. She whimpered in pain. Spike was almost in a daze but the whimper caused him to snap from it and step over to the bed.

"Shh. Easy, love." Spike said softly. Buffy's eyes shifted upwards to look at Spike just as he leaned forward to kiss her head softly.

"Where am I? What happened?" Buffy croaked.

"The hospital. You don't remember?" Spike asked curiously as he looked down at the weakened slayer.

Buffy squinted her eyes and shook her head. "Linn... I remember... I was mad." Buffy cleared her throat but it caused pain to shoot through her and she winced. "I yelled at her." Buffy closed her eyes and put her hand over her eyes gently.

"I need to talk to you, Buffy." Spike said softly. He reached behind him and grabbed the chair and pulled it over to the bed so he could sit right beside her.

Once he was sitting, Spike leaned over, resting his elbows on the bed. He took Buffy's hand that didn't have the needle sticking in it, in his own and kissed her knuckles lightly.

"You fell and you were bleeding. I rushed you to the hospital." Spike explained quietly. "You had to have emergency surgery for the baby."

"Oh god, the baby." Buffy's hand immediately went to her belly where she found no large belly. "My baby. Is... Is..." Buffy tried to mutter the words.

"He is fine." Spike's lips widened into a small smile. "He is strong, love."

"H-H-He? We... We have... a-a boy?" Buffy asked, her features softening.

Spike nodded. "I already signed his birth certificate. Just like we talked about, I named him William." Spike's eyes glittered with tears at the realization that he had a son who was named after him. It was a man's dream, especially for a vampire who had fallen in love with being a father.

"William?" Buffy smiled. "W-William Louie Pratt?" Buffy asked. Spike nodded in return. "Thank you." Buffy closed her eyes as she felt a feeling of relief.

"I need to ask you one other thing." Spike's voice was unsure, not wanting to upset the weak slayer but he needed to know for himself.

Buffy opened her eyes and looked into Spike's.

"Did you plan Emily and William?" Spike asked curiously. "I won't be mad if you did. I just..." Spike couldn't help but smirk. "I know after Linn you started taking birth control because you were afraid you'd get pregnant again. You told me you stopped taking them three months before you found out you were pregnant with Em. Did you lie?" Spike wasn't mad and he wouldn't be mad if Buffy had planned having Emmy without his knowledge but now, he just needed to know.

Buffy slowly nodded her head. "I..." Buffy took a deep labored breath. "I know that... Linn was a... prophecy but," Buffy paused to take another deep breath. "The... The prophecy said that... y-you h-had the ability to... reproduce." Buffy closed her eyes. It was taking a lot just to talk. She was still kind of out of it but this was truth. "I... I didn't know if... if it h-had stuck. S-so I stopped... taking my... pills." Buffy opened her eyes and looked at Spike. "I got... p-p-pregnant a-almost... immediately." Buffy used her thumb to stroke Spike's cheek. "A-a-are you m-mad?" Buffy asked.

Spike smiled and shook his head. "No. No I'm not mad, sweetheart." Spike planted another kiss on Buffy's knuckles. "I just wish you had told me. We could have done it together."

"We did." Buffy joked. Even weak and on copious amounts of drugs she had a joke. "I... didn't conceive them... a-alone." Buffy smiled through the slight lingering pain.

"I love how cheeky you can be, pet." Spike chuckled softly.

Buffy let out a labored breath and closed her eyes as she felt more pain.

"Does it hurt?" Spike asked softly. Buffy just nodded and tried to adjust but she was finding it hard to get comfortable. "Don't move too much. You're going to hurt yourself, love." Spike stood up and looked down at Buffy's body laying in the bed. "Where does it hurt?" Spike asked.

"All over." Buffy whimpered. "I want to... b-be on... my... back." Buffy said honestly.

Spike took a hold of the blankets and pulled them down slowly. He was careful not to go near any of her incisions and gently took her body in his hands. Buffy winced in pain but she didn't stop him or push him away. Spike shifted Buffy so that she was on her back and not on her side. His nostrils flared when he smelled the blood.

"E-easy vampire." Buffy could see the look in Spike's eyes. She placed a hand on his arm and patted it. "You're hungry." Buffy whispered. She could see the longing in Spike's eyes to feed. "You need t-t-t-to... feed." Buffy shivered a little.

Spike simply covered Buffy back up, hoping to block the smell of the blood on her body but it didn't do him much good.

"I'll be fine." Spike smiled.

Buffy shook her head. "I... I will... p-p-put you in... t-time out too." Buffy smiled and rubbed his arm with her hand. "If I... w-won't let the-the girls g-go... without it... n-n-neither c-can you." Buffy looked up into Spike's eyes. "Go... home.. Go... feed." Buffy said before taking another painful deep breath.

Spike shook his head. "I'm not leaving you here alone." Spike said, lacing his fingers with Buffy's.

"I-I'm not alone." Buffy smiled. "W-W-William... is here."

Spike took a deep breath. He was starving and Buffy was right. The blood that Willow had fetched wasn't enough to hold both girls and himself. He was very hungry and he didn't want to suddenly go all vamped out in the middle of the hospital.

"I will return before sunrise." Spike smiled. He leaned forward and kissed Buffy's head softly. "I love you." Spike whispered while looking into Buffy's eyes.

"You are my hero." Buffy whispered, looking up into Spike's eyes. "I love you so much."

Spike smiled. It was the first time Buffy had ever called him her "hero". It touched him. In a way he was. He kept their family going, kept them alive, kept them safe.

 _...TBC..._


	7. Chapter 7 - Home

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Seven – Home

* * *

Days passed. Spike stayed by Buffy's side at all times. The first day was the hardest. Buffy's body had been through a traumatic situation. She cried a lot. She was in immense pain and while the nurses pumped all sorts of medication through her blood stream, Spike did his best to comfort the mother of his children. There was only so much he could do for his girlfriend but he did everything that he could muster up and think of.

Spike barely slept. Every sound, every movement Buffy made caused him to feel alarmed. He would sit and just listen to her breathe, listen to her heart beat within her chest. He would take her hand in his and stroke the soft skin of her hands. He would relish in the familiar look of her sweet surrender on her face as she slept. Spike couldn't imagine leaving Buffy's side for a single moment.

There were moments when the vampire had to step away but it was never for very long. Dawn, Willow and Tara agreed to go home with the girls and take care of them which the girls didn't object to. They were excited to have their aunts taking care of them. Spike suspected the late bed time and chocolates for dinner were partially to blame for their excitement. But for once, Spike didn't object. His daughters needed a distraction from seeing their mother so weak.

When Linn first laid eyes on Buffy she cried. She felt bad for her mother. She wanted to help her mother feel better. Linn even asked Spike if she could sit in Buffy's hospital bed and stroke her hair like her mother had always done when she had her nightmares. Of course she couldn't but Spike promised Linn that when her mom was home she could. Emmy didn't seem as upset by it but she was a little more in shock than her big sister. She just asked questions to which Spike did his best to explain to the child in a way she could understand. He was getting better at that.

Buffy had woken up a few times while the girls were in the room. She apologized over and over to Linn for yelling at her. She begged her daughter not to be mad at her to which Linn simply nuzzled her mother's hand and smiled. She told her mother that she couldn't stay mad at her. She pinky promised at that. The drugs made her slightly delusional but when it came to the girls, she was pretty clear minded. She continued to tell Emmy and Linn that she loved them. She promised them she would be okay. She promised that everything would be better in a few days, that soon she would be coming home with their little brother.

And soon she would.

By the third day, Buffy was awake, no longer drugged up by copious amounts of pain killers and drugs. Her slayer abilities were helping to heal her. She was still on some medications but she was feeling much better than the first moment she remembered waking up and speaking with Spike. She had felt so much pain like no other pain before. It wasn't quite child birth pain but it was close to it. It was still different in the sense that she had been cut open, her insides removed, a baby removed and then stuffed back together.

"You're awake." Spike said as he walked into Buffy's hospital room.

The slayer was sitting up slightly with her head laid back against the bed and her eyes connected to the television set in the corner of the room. She shifted her eyes over to see Spike coming inside. A small smile came over her lips.

"And watching TV." Buffy said with a nod of her head.

Spike looked up to see Spongebob playing on the television. It made him chuckle.

"Cartoons at that. You must really miss the girls." Spike commented as he reached the bed.

"Mmm. I do." Spike leaned in and kissed Buffy's forehead softly.

Spike had left to shower, get a change of clothes, eat, juice up and spend a few minutes with the girls before coming back to the hospital to be with Buffy.

"They miss you too, love." Spike took Buffy's hand in his and laced his fingers with hers.

"I can't wait to go home. This bed is so uncomfortable. Plus, I hate needles and if they take a blood sample one more time I might end up becoming the undead too. At least vampires drain you at once not over and over." Buffy joked and lightly chuckled.

"Vicious creatures those nurses are. Bloody hell, I thought I was evil but these nurses show no fear." Spike joked back.

Buffy began to laugh a little harder before whimpering.

"Don't make me laugh." She winced but still smiled.

"You started it, slayer." Spike whispered.

Buffy slowly moved to one side of the hospital bed and patted the space beside her. Spike sat down and put his feet up on the bottom of the bed. Buffy leaned forward to let Spike put his arm beneath her neck before laying back. Spike wrapped his other arm around Buffy gently and laid back with her, holding her close to him.

Buffy turned her head. She reached up to stroke Spike's cheek softly and lean in to kiss his lips gently. Spike returned the loving kiss and stroked Buffy's arm with his free hand.

"I miss home." Buffy said once the kiss had been broken.

"I know you do, love. Doc says that it should only be a few more days and you can come home. They have to bring your blood pressure down before they can let you leave." Spike kissed Buffy's forehead once again and this time, let his lips linger there.

"Too bad slayer healing doesn't help with blood pressure." Buffy sighed. She wanted to go home so badly.

"I'd rather you stay here where you can be with William and know that the both of you are being looked over properly." Spike said quietly.

"I know. They said that they will release him before they release me probably." Buffy informed Spike. "They said his progress is good and that they might be discharging him tonight."

Spike looked down at Buffy. "Then we will keep him here with us."

Buffy shook her head. "He can't just stay in here with us, Spike. Once they discharge him, you have to take him home."

"I'm not taking him home if you can't come with us." Spike said sternly.

"You have to, Spike." Buffy insisted.

"I can't do that alone." Spike's jaw fluttered in anger as he ground his teeth together. "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Yes, yes you can." Buffy sighed. She ran her hand up and down his arm slowly. "I will be fine alone, Spike. I am a big girl." Buffy grinned. "William needs you a little more than I do. I'm getting better and soon I will be able to go home too."

"The house... it's so... empty without you." Spike admitted.

"I bet." Buffy nodded her head. "But the kids need one of us. It just has to be you."

"But you need me too."

Buffy shook her head, "I am fine, Spike." Buffy looked up into his eyes. "You would carry me home if you could, I know this. But I am fine. My blood pressure will come down and my stomach will heal and I will come home and we can all be a family again." Buffy took a deep breath at the thought of everything that she was going to have to do when she got home. It caused her blood pressure to spike which caused one of the machines to make a beeping noise.

Spike picked his head up and looked at it before looking down at Buffy in concern. "You need to stop doing that." Spike sighed, running a hand down her cheek softly.

"I can't help it." Buffy whispered.

"You're never going to get out of here when you think about everything at home." Spike knew why Buffy's blood pressure was spiking, she told him before what caused her blood pressure to spike that day.

"I'm scared, Spike." Buffy whispered before burying her face in his chest.

"They're not going to take them away, Buffy. I won't let them." Spike rubbed Buffy's back gently to try and comfort her.

"I couldn't live without them. To know they were in the care of someone who had no idea why they were different. Who didn't know that blood was the key to keeping them going. Someone who didn't know that Linn preferred the blood cold. Someone who didn't know that Emmy could be in the sun longer. Someone who could hurt them just by not knowing." Buffy was starting to get herself worked up and was close to tears. Spike could hear the panic in her voice and immediately he was rubbing her back with both hands and hugging her close.

"Shh. Buffy, look at me." Spike said firmly. Buffy looked up, her eyes glossy with tears. "Our children are not going anywhere. They will never be raised by anyone other than us. That little git that Linn bit deserved it. Okay? He gave our daughter a black eye. He bit her first. I don't care what we have to do, no one is taking our children from us. They will have to get through me first. No one is going to touch them. No one is going to be mum and dad but us. I promise you that with every piece of my flesh and bone and soul..." Spike stroked Buffy's face. "Malin, Emily and William are our children and will always be our children and will be in our care. I will not let anyone lay a finger on them or it will be the last thing they do." Spike reassured Buffy who was beginning to settle at Spike's words as well as his embrace. That was what she needed. She needed his comfort.

Buffy needed to stop thinking about these things. Yes they were important, yes it was hard not to think about these things but Spike was right. No matter what, the children were theirs and they would fight to the death to keep them in her care... if it was the last thing they ever did.

 _...TBC..._


	8. Chapter 8 - Zero Gravity

**Title:** Change  
 **Author:** MSKBSwedish  
 **Rating:** Mature  
 **Summery:** Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.  
 **Note:** I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

* * *

Chapter Eight – Zero Gravity

* * *

"You are free to go home now Miss Summers." Dr. Maynard smiled at the slayer sitting on the hospital bed with her normal every day clothing on, no longer in the uncomfortable hospital gown. "But please, follow the instructions on the paperwork. No lifting anything over ten pounds, no bending, stretching, ladders and no fighting. Your boyfriend was very forthcoming with your habit of the occasional physical fight. You need to rest and let your incisions heal properly. I want to see you back here in three weeks to remove the staples and if you feel like you are getting sick then you need to call 911 immediately because that is a sign of infection." The doctor explained thoroughly to the mother.

Buffy nodded, "Thanks, doc."

With that, Dr. Maynard handed her the paper work before turning to walk out of the room.

Buffy looked up at Spike and a grin spread across her face. "Do you have everything?"

Spike looked down at the brown bag that the vampire had packed days ago with some things from home that Buffy had asked him to bring up to the hospital to make her stay a little more comfortable.

"I do. Are you ready?" Spike asked, putting his hand out for Buffy to take.

The slayer put her hand in his and gently slid off of the hospital bed. Spike helped Buffy into the wheel chair that had been provided to get her out of the hospital and out to the car. They weren't allowing Buffy to walk out of the hospital for fear that she would be pushing herself.

Once outside and in the car, Buffy grabbed her phone from her purse and dialed home. "Hey, Will. We are leaving the hospital so I'll be home in about fifteen minutes." Buffy explained to her best friend. "Alright, I'll see you soon." With that, Buffy hung up the phone and laid her head against the head rest behind her, ready to be back in her own home.

* * *

Buffy held tightly onto Spike's body as he helped her up the few steps to the porch. She wasn't used to being so immobile. Even being pregnant with the back pain, she could still get around on her own.

Once to the front door, Spike opened the door and helped Buffy inside. "Easy." He said softly to the slayer who seemed so eager to be home.

Buffy looked up to see a strung up sign in the living room, complete with balloons that read "Welcome Home". Buffy smiled wildly and let out a soft giggle. Under the sign stood Linn, Emmy and Dawn holding the baby. Xander and Anya sat on the couch beside Tara. Giles sat in the chair across from the couch. Willow walked in from the play room and immediately a smile fell over her face.

"Mummy!" Emmy giggled and ran towards Buffy and Spike.

Spike stuck his arm out, quickly catching the small child with his hand.

"Hey. What did I say? We can't be rough with mummy for a while." Spike warned his middle child.

Emmy nodded her head and took her mother's hand in hers. "Sorry, mummy. I'm glad you're home."

Buffy moved her hand to caress Emmy's cheek gently. "I'm happy to be home, baby girl."

Xander stood up and gestured to the couch.

"Welcome home, Buffster. Kept it warm for you." Xander said with a smile across his lips.

Buffy smiled. "Thanks, Xander."

Spike helped Buffy over to sit on the couch and slowly the slayer was able to sit on the couch with the rest of her friends.

"H-How are you feeling?" Tara asked immediately.

"Like a four pound weight is no longer hanging onto me." Buffy joked seeing that she no longer was carrying a baby around in her womb.

"Speaking of which. Here you go, mama." Dawn smiled. She walked over to Buffy and gently laid her son in her arms.

Buffy's smile grew as her eyes fell over her son. It was the first time she was able to hold him since he had been born and nothing gave her more pleasure than to hold her son in her arms.

"Hey, little man." Tears glittered the slayers eyes as she gazed upon him.

"He's a strong one too." Spike grinned. "He's got a cry that will wake the dead." Spike chuckled.

"He looks strong." Buffy smiled. She sniffled a little and used her free hand to wipe her eyes. "He's beautiful." Buffy commented.

"He looks just like Spike." Anya scrunched up her nose.

"Hey, that may not be beautiful to you but I think I'm dashing." Spike said, adjusting the collar of his duster.

"That's a more appropriate word." Buffy laughed.

"Mummy?" Linn walked up to Buffy and her baby brother. "Emmy and I promise we will be good. We pinky promised daddy that we will help out with Will and we will be very good girls so you don't have to yell or get mad."

Buffy was touched. She looked up at Spike before glancing back down at her daughters who stood right in front of her.

"How did I end up with such amazing kids?" Buffy asked as she reached out and stroked Linn's cheek.

"Well, I think they get that from you, Buffy." Giles grinned.

"Oy! I can be amazing." Spike piped up. "She tells me all the time." Spike looked proud.

"Maybe in the sack." Xander mumbled.

"Xander!" Buffy gasped. "Kids present. Thank you."

Xander nodded. "Sorry. Habit."

For the rest of the night, everyone took turns holding, feeding and changing Will. The girls played and talked to their mother and the rest of their family. Buffy stayed pretty much in the same spot on the couch except when it came time for dinner. Spike said for once they could all munch in the living room but Buffy said no. She wanted them all to eat as a family at the dinner table.

Buffy and Spike let the girls stay up later than usual since tonight was a special night. Buffy also insisted that she wasn't sending Linn back to school. There was too much going on and she was still very unhappy by the circumstances involving Linn and school. She was setting her heart on homeschooling the children now, no matter what it took. She put Linn in a regular school in the first place, believing that she could survive in a normal school setting but now, she realized it would take a few more years before she could handle a normal school. When that time came, they would reconsider public schools.

Spike and Dawn put the girls to bed around nine while Buffy sat back on the couch just holding the baby and feeling him close to her. He didn't cry very much and especially not in Buffy's arms. There was an immediate connection between mother and son that was instant.

Everyone had gathered back in the living room and were talking when Dawn and Spike came back down stairs once the girls were asleep. Dawn shuffled over to sit between Tara and Buffy on the couch so she could look some more at her nephew who she was insanely in love with already. After helping take care of him for the last three days, she had definitely fallen in love with the infant.

"So, while I have everyone here. There's something I wanted to say." Spike said suddenly. Everyone cast their eyes up towards Spike.

Spike cleared his throat and looked like he was toying with something in his pocket.

"I know I'm not the greatest person in the world. Hell I'm a vampire who just so happened to fall in love with my mortal enemy and started a bloody family." Spike chuckled. "I never expected something like this to happen. All of my.. undead life, I was selfish and moody. I was a viscous killer and yes, I'm not proud of my past seeing how my future has played out." Spike walked closer to Buffy. "But Buffy, you and our children have made me a changed man." Spike shook his head. "I never in my wildest dreams envisioned anything like this ever happening for me. Vampires are cold, lonely creatures. We hunt and we kill. We don't change diapers and play hide and seek."

Buffy couldn't help but smile as she began to tear up.

"But most of all, we don't fall in love." Spike got right in front of Buffy and looked down at her. "However, things change. Even as a vampire I believe that a man can change his stars." Spike knelt down on one knee and looked into Buffy's eyes.

Everyone around the room gasped, including the slayer herself as Spike pulled the little red velvet box out of his pocket.

The vampire couldn't hold the smile from his face. "I don't care what we have to go through. I don't care about what life throws at us. Whatever obstacle we have to face, we can face it together like we have always done."

Spike opened the box to reveal a white-gold ring. The top of the ring was embellished with blue sapphires and diamonds going along the sides of the ring and right in the middle at the top was a round 1 carrot diamond.

Buffy gasped, putting her hand over her mouth in shock as her tears escaped from the corners of her eyes.

"Will you marry me, Buffy?" Spike asked. "If there is one thing I want to be proud of is that I was not just a good boyfriend but... a good husband and father."

Their eyes connected and for a moment there, Spike actually thought Buffy would say no.

But then her head bobbed slightly as she showed her agreement. "Yes." She said aloud.

"Really?" Spike asked, a smile spreading across his face even wider than before.

"Really." Buffy chuckled and put her hand down from covering her mouth. "Yes. My answer is yes." Buffy said once more.

Spike pulled the ring from the encasing of the box and took Buffy's finger. He slowly pushed it onto her ring finger. He looked at the ring on her finger momentarily, almost in disbelief that he actually had the balls to do it. But he did and damn the ring looked nice on her finger.

"I love you." Buffy said, knocking Spike from his thoughts.

"I love you, too." Spike leaned forward and placed a kiss on Buffy's lips.

The moment the kiss broke, Spike moved down to kiss his son's forehead softly.

Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy and will and looked into Buffy's eyes. "I promise I won't let you down."

"I know you won't."

 _...TBC..._


End file.
